Obama Visiting Yosemite by Helicopter w/ Balloons

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Davephaelon
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Having climbed Halfdome in 1989 (via John Muir trail and other trails), I was curious about the story of president Obama and family visiting Yosemite by helicopter. The first very spectacular picture shows the two helicopters (Marine 1 and a Chinook for the press) flying in the foreground of Halfdome, and utterly dwarfed by it. But right above the the scalloped area atop Halfdome there appears to be two white balloons tied together. They might not actually be above Halfdome, but in the foreground, closer to the camera. Hard to say. I'm on a notebook computer, at a coffee shop, with a small screen. Maybe others with bigger screens can see more detail.
 
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I have a humorous story to tell about that climb up Halfdome. When I left my car, about 1 mile from the trailhead, I forgot to bring water. If memory serves the trail to the top was about 8 and 1/ miles, or 17 round trip. Add 2 for the trip back and forth to the car and it was about 19 miles, with about 4700 feet of elevation increase.

I also brought a piece of cooked salmon that was frozen. I got about halfway up and ate the salmon. Unfortunattely I reeked of salmon on my hands and face. I tried my best to clean the residue off with sand and water at the streams along the way, but the odor stayed with me. The day was hot, 90 degrees, and I kept imagining a stampede of black bears thundering behind me attracted to this unusual walking salmon!

I was super thirsty when I got back to the parking lot and drank a lot of water.